Arquivo / 49ª mostra

In the semi-arid northeast of Brazil, in the Caatinga region - the back-country hinterland - they say that it is not man who raises billy-goats, but billy-goats that raise man. They also say that all of a billy-goat is put to good use - down to the bellow. And so it is, in fact. And that is why the main characters are these animals: a billy-goat and a she-goat. Often regarded by the back-country populace as beings that are almost human, companions of misfortune and journeying, they are laden with history, as everybody knows. What almost nobody knows, however, is that without billy-goats and she-goats, the north eastern semi-arid hinterland would long ago have become barren of people and of life.